PIERRE, S.D. – Some South Dakota leaders are backing a bid to buy the social media app TikTok.
TikTok’s fate in the U.S. has been up in the air since last year, following the passage of a bipartisan law signed by former President Joe Biden. The legislation forces ByteDance to sell the app to a non-Chinese buyer or face a nationwide ban. While TikTok had challenged the measure, the Supreme Court upheld it in the final days of the Biden administration.
In February, 40-year-old Wyoming entrepreneur Reid Rasner and his company Rasner Media LLC announced a $47 billion bid to acquire a controlling stake in the app.
Under Rasner’s proposed plan, TikTok would offer payment tiers for U.S. users to buy into the platform as “founding members.” Creators who donate, in tiers starting at $280 per year and going up to $12,000 a year, would receive a set of perks including a boost to their content and a verification badge on their profile.
Gov. Larry Rhoden expressed support for Rasner Media’s bid. He said though it’s early, conversations about South Dakota as a potential location for the company have been had.
“I really don’t have details, you know. I had the initial conversation with Rasner, and it was very interesting, very intriguing,” Rhoden said. “Just the level of interest that he showed in South Dakota was very intriguing to me. I’m very anxious to get more details, and more information as we move through this.”
Rasner indicated in the past he wanted to bring TikTok’s headquarters, currently located in Los Angeles and Singapore, to Wyoming — where Rasner previously ran for a U.S. Senate seat. “By establishing TikTok’s operations in Wyoming, Reid will ignite a new era of economic diversification, creating thousands of high-paying jobs that will not only benefit the tech sector but also supercharge Wyoming’s energy, agriculture, and tourism industries,” according to Rasner Media counsel Steve Roberts.
But in a most recent news release, the company said “no final decision has been made on operational locations” but that it “has committed to ensuring South Dakota remains a key partner.”
Other supporters of the bid were the South Dakota Retailers Association and South Dakota State Chamber of Commerce.
